Medical implant devices used in surgical procedures can be associated with particular information to guide medical professionals before and after the surgical procedure. Each implant device or its packaging carries a wealth of information that is valuable to the surgeon, patient, hospital, the implant manufacturer, medical researchers, healthcare professionals, and medical facilities. However, the information, which may include the implant manufacturer and manufacturer's lot number, the date and location of surgical implantation, the responsible surgeon, any medical notes, photographs, or diagrams relating to the implant, surgery, or condition, may not be adequate, properly recorded, or readily accessible for beneficial use by a healthcare professional, implant manufacturer, or medical researcher after implantation. Problems relating to poor implant records can lead to unnecessary delay or even medical error by healthcare professionals. Moreover, there are many different implant identification methods currently in place instead of a common system to allow manufacturers, distributors, and healthcare facilities and professionals to effectively track, identify, and manage implant devices and medical device recalls. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently announced a program focusing on requirements for unique device identifiers for every medical implant device to address the need for a more robust implant device identification system, the details of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein: www.fda.gov/udi.
The present invention is an improvement upon the technology described in U.S. applications Ser. Nos. 14/302,133, 14/302,171, 14/302,197, 14/456,665 and 14/822,613, which are hereby incorporated in their entirety by reference herein.